How the Detroit VA is tackling suicide among veterans

In 2018, the John D. Dingell VA Medical Center provided mental health services to 13,000 veterans, a 3 percent increase from the same period in 2017, said Nicole Stromberg, mental health chief.

Michigan's veteran suicide rate has been dropping the past several years to 26 per 100,000 in 2016 from 36 per 100,000 in 2014. Nationally, the veteran suicide rate is down to 30 per 100,000 in 2016 from 38 in 2014.

Nicole Stromberg, mental health chief at the John D. Dingell VA Medical Center in Detroit, said she believes those numbers at the Detroit VA have dropped further in 2018.

"We are embarking on the largest public health initiative in the history of health care," said Stromberg, a psychiatrist and neurologist who explained that national protocols and policies have been developed in the U.S. and abroad to use the same screening tools and evidenced-based treatments to reduce suicide rates.

Stromberg said veterans are now assessed for suicide risk by all primary care providers, not just psychiatrists and mental health professionals. "There is a stigma around people asking (about suicide). It doesn't put the idea into people's minds. Quite the reverse, people feel relieved" they are asked about it, she said.

Expanding the risk evaluations, Stromberg said veterans will be screened more closely if they access emergency services regularly, don't sleep well, have chronic pain or are in end-of-life care, geriatrics and rehabilitation services.

Stromberg said another reason for success in Detroit has been the increase in those employed in mental health services. Detroit VA has hired more than 30 professionals the past 16 months to more than 178 non-nursing mental health employees, she said.

In 2018, Detroit VA provided mental health services to 13,000 veterans, a 3 percent increase from the same period in 2017, she said. "This increase is even with people moving away and outside of our care," she said, adding that VA ensures they are followed up wherever they move.

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Stromberg said Detroit VA is partnering with many community organizations, governmental bodies and universities, including Team Wellness Center, Wayne County, Henry Ford, Wayne State University and the city of Detroit through a VA partnership program called the "Mayor's Challenge."

Twenty-five cities, including Detroit, are participating in the challenge, which is designed to create regional teams of community partners to eliminate suicide by using a comprehensive public health approach to prevention.

Of the 20 veteran suicides a day, an average of 14 were not under VA care.

"We are trying to figure out where the gaps are, how to reach veterans that none of the partners are reaching and to develop" programs for them to access mental health services, said Detroit VA spokesman Alysse Mengasen.